Welcome

Welcome to the POZ/AIDSmeds Community Forums, a round-the-clock discussion area for people with HIV/AIDS, their friends/family/caregivers, and
others concerned about HIV/AIDS. Click on the links below to browse our various forums; scroll down for a glance at the most recent posts; or join in the
conversation yourself by registering on the left side of this page.

Privacy Warning: Please realize that these forums are open to all, and are fully searchable via Google and other search engines. If you are HIV positive
and disclose this in our forums, then it is almost the same thing as telling the whole world (or at least the World Wide Web). If this concerns you, then do not use a
username or avatar that are self-identifying in any way. We do not allow the deletion of anything you post in these forums, so think before you post.

The information shared in these forums, by moderators and members, is designed to complement, not replace, the relationship between an individual and his/her own
physician.

All members of these forums are, by default, not considered to be licensed medical providers. If otherwise, users must clearly define themselves as such.

Forums members must behave at all times with respect and honesty. Posting guidelines, including time-out and banning policies, have been established by the moderators
of these forums. Click here for “Am I Infected?” posting guidelines. Click here for posting guidelines pertaining to all other POZ/AIDSmeds community forums.

We ask all forums members to provide references for health/medical/scientific information they provide, when it is not a personal experience being discussed. Please
provide hyperlinks with full URLs or full citations of published works not available via the Internet. Additionally, all forums members must post information which are
true and correct to their knowledge.

Finished Reading This? You can collapse this or any other box on this page by clicking the
symbol in each box.

Welcome to Am I Infected

IMPORTANT UPDATE
Posted Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Welcome to the "Am I Infected?" POZ forum.

New members -- those who have posted three or fewer messages -- are permitted to post questions and responses, free of charge (make them count!). Ongoing participation in the "Am I Infected?" forum -- posting more than three questions or responses -- requires a paid subscription.

A seven-day subscription
is $9.99, a 30-day subscription is $14.99 and a 90-day subscription is $24.99.

Anyone who needs to post more than three messages in the "Am I Infected?" forum -- including past, present and future POZ Forums members -- will need to subscribe, with
secure payments made via PayPal.

There will be no charge to continue reading threads in the
"Am I Infected?" forum, nor will there be a charge for participating
in any of the Main Forums; Meds, Mind, Body & Benefits; and Off Topic
Forums. Similarly, all POZ and AIDSmeds pages,
including our "How is HIV
Transmitted?" and "Am I Infected? (A
Guide to Testing for HIV)" lessons, will remain accessible to
all.

NOTE: HIV testing questions will still need to be posted in the "Am I
Infected?" forum; attempts to post HIV symptoms or testing questions in any other forums will be considered violations of our rules of membership and subject to time-outs and permanent bans.

To learn how to upgrade your Forums account
to participate beyond three posts in the "Am I Infected?" Forum, please click here.

Thank you for your understanding
and future support of the best online support service for people living with,
affected by and at risk for HIV.

Author
Topic: A Concern about Oral Sex (Read 2310 times)

Hello all, I'm sure I will be branded as a worried well, and that perhaps describes me. Anyways, I had a couple of questions and I would love to get some input from the mods on this as well. First, a question about my risk assessment. I performed unprotected oral on a person with unknown HIV status (claims to be Neg,however) about six or seven weeks ago. He did not ejaculate inside my mouth, however there was a small amount of pre-cum. He cleaned off with a towel, and I gave him head again about ten or fifteen minutes later. This time, there was no ejaculate or pre-cum present. Ironically and this is where the anxiety comes in, about two weeks later I came down with a persistent headache and low fever (99-100.5 F). No rashes,sore throat,or noticeable swelling of lymph nodes, just the headache and mild fever. Of course, I've panicked out and I have some pretty bad anxiety that I've seroconverted. So, are the odds still in my favor? I'm just worried about the coincidental illness that I contracted 2 weeks after the incident. It's unnerving because it falls in that window of time that ARS symptoms would occur. My second question is for the mods. You guys state that you rarely see any solid cases of transmission from oral sex. However, there are some on here and other forums that are adamant that they acquire HIV through blowjobs. I know many of the HIV experts point towards the recent studies involving sero-discordant couples as hard proof of the rarity of oral transmission. However, there are some compelling anectotal stories out there. So, in your opinion, do the recent studies trump individual reports of oral transmission? And, you state that under scrutiny, most reports of oral transmission do not stand up as well. Why is that? Thank you for your time, and I have read the lessons on HIV transmission. They were very informative and, at the same time, sort of a relief.

You were never at risk to begin with. And what is talked about in other forums is not a concern of yours. Most people like to leave out their real risks.

RapidRod..

I wasn't trying to be antagonistic or speak out of turn. I am well aware that my risk level is incredibly low. However, the combination of getting a virus after my encounter and hearing conflicting information about the risk HIV from oral sex has led to a little anxiety. I'm certain that I'm not the first to corner the market when it comes to being a worried well. Take Care...

Believe me, if you keep searching around on the net and elsewhere to find material to feed your fears you will find them a-plenty. And it is true that we continue from time to time to hear of someone who tested positive and insists the only risk they had was giving oral.

However, in addition to the longterm studies of sero-discordant partners which you have mentioned, your saliva has over a dozen elements which are very effective in preventing successful HIV transmission.

I will never say infection has never happened orally. But IF it has, it's so rare as to put it into essentially the theoretical category. Certainly I wouldn't advise anyone who has an open bleeding wound or very poor oral care to be giving oral, and especially to orgasm orally. But otherwise, considering how common a sexual act giving oral is, we would have known long before today if it was a real risk.

As for your symptoms, there is absolutely nothing HIV specific about them. If they persist you need to discuss them with your doctor. I don't see any need for HIV testing unless you feel you must collect the inevtiable negative test result to put this issue down. You are worrying needlessly is how I see it.